Tantramar councillors to mull over hundreds of ideas for the town’s strategic plan |

Graphic that appeared on the town’s website inviting people to participate in strategic plan sessions & surveys

Members of Tantramar Council and senior town staff will be sifting through hundreds of ideas, suggestions and criticisms when they meet behind closed doors this month to draft a five-year strategic plan for the newly amalgamated municipality.

The ideas were compiled by the consultancy firm Strategic Steps Inc. based on responses from the 82 people who attended three public drop-in sessions, 144 who filled out an online survey and responses from 25 unidentified “stakeholders” including members of groups such as the Greater Dorchester Moving Forward Co-operative, the Climate Change Advisory Committee, people with an interest in economic development and participants from Mount Allison University.

Consultant Craig Pollett told CHMA reporter Erica Butler last month that during their closed-door “workshops,” members of council will have a chance to identify several key things they want town managers to pursue in setting a general direction for Tantramar.

“It gives the council a way to say to their administrative team, ‘This is where we want to end up, this is where we want to go.’” Pollett explained. “‘So, four years from now, we should have these 20 things accomplished.’”

The ideas, suggestions and criticisms are contained in a 12-page, “What We Heard” report posted on the town’s website.

It outlines for example, people’s thoughts about what improves their quality of life and what detracts from it:

The report shows a strong public interest in improving transportation including establishing inter-municipal bus services and creating bicycle lanes.

Under the heading “Sustainability,” it identifies the four leading issues as: renewable energy, local food production, biodiversity/conservation and climate-proofing municipal infrastructure.

Municipal services

The report says health, water, fire and policing were considered the most important municipal services:

Communications

The report says that residents identified communications as one of the municipality’s main shortcomings.

“Residents generally do not feel informed about the work of the municipality, with 41.5% indicating a lack of information and, only 28.6% saying they felt somewhat informed. 29% felt neutral, while nearly nobody felt totally informed (2%).”

Municipal Infrastructure

The report says water and sewer facilities scored highest with trails and parks in second place.

Sackville’s Visitor Information Centre was highly regarded with roads, sidewalks and public transportation scoring much lower, especially in Dorchester.

The report says most respondents did not identify the availability of housing as a “major barrier” to living in Tantramar, but points out about 85% of them were homeowners. It says that 13.3% named housing as “the most significant barrier” to living here, a number roughly equal to the renters who responded indicating “a need for rental options in the community.”

Improving Tantramar

To read the full “What We Heard” document, click here.

Note: On August 26, Mayor Black responded to my e-mail asking that the council sessions to draft the strategic plan be open to the public partly because I wanted to cover them and partly because they do not meet the criteria for holding closed meetings under Section 68  of New Brunswick’s local governance act (LGA). Here’s his reply:

I think the critical piece to consider is the Strategic Planning sessions are not subject to LGA provisions since they are not a meeting of council and no decisions are being made. We appreciate the interest in the perspectives of elected officials, and a ‘What we heard’ document will be prepared for the public after these sessions.

On August 26th, I filed a complaint with New Brunswick’s Ombud asking for a ruling on whether council’s closed-door meetings are legal under the local governance act.

For previous strategic plan coverage, click here and here.